The Thief Lord and The Singer Girl
by Broadway jr
Summary: Riccio steals money from Mia, a young American singer, but later that night, the Thief Lord discovers that Mia is abused by her drunk of a father. Can Scipio get the others to accept Mia without falling for her himself? Scipio/OC
1. In St Mark's Square

Riccio loved to walk the streets of Venice, where there was always something new to dig up. He loved to walk through the alleyways, some of which were new to him. Riccio savored in the scent of the fresh cakes and other baked goods the pastry chefs took such care in preparing. But most of all, he loved all the unsuspecting tourists, who paid no attention to their wallets.

Riccio loved stealing things. He loved the thrill it gave him. He often used the money he aquired to buy the sweets that were destroying his teeth, but sometimes he used the money to help him and his friends. He and the others, Hornet, Mosca, Prosper, and Bo were all orphans, living together in a movie theater that their leader, a thirteen year old boy known as The Thief Lord or Scipio, had found for them. Even though The Thief Lord provides plenty of goods for them, Riccio loves to pick-pocket the tourists anyway.

Walking through St. Mark's Square, Riccio saw a group of tourists taking pictures of the four golden horses that stood in front of the portal to the Basilica. Riccio smiled, showing the world his horrible teeth. Whenever Bo, who's only six walks by the Basilica, he stops and stares at the horses, as though he expects them to move. Riccio walked nonchalantly over to the group of tourists, who were talking excitedly in English. He saw a wallet stick out of the back pocket of a rather skinny man and, without drawing any attention to himself, grabbed it. After a few steps Riccio grinned, a proud feeling growing in his chest. He felt the warm leather of the wallet in his hand and, after the skinny man was out of sight, Riccio opened the wallet to see what he had won. Credit cards, an ID, and only seven thousand lire. "Dammit!" Riccio yelled to no one in particular. Several people turned to stare at him, but Riccio didn't care. He hated when he did a bad job at stealing. He didn't live up to his own expectations, and he couldn't imagine what Scipio would have thought. He dropped the wallet, and sulked away. But he didn't get very far.

There was a large group of people near the fountain. As Riccio walked over (maybe there was another unsuspecting pocket over here?) he heard music. First, only the sound of a guitar was heard. It was playing such a beautiful tune and Riccio guessed whoever playing it was a master, professionally trained. As he reached the outer egde of on-lookers, a girl started singing. "_Hey Jude, don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better,_" she sung in English, her American accent heard. Later that day, Riccio wished that Prosper were here with him. English was Prosper native language, and maybe he would have been able to tell him what this girl was singing. But at the moment, Riccio didn't care what she was saying. All he wanted to do was see who was making such beautiful music. Riccio pushed through the mass of people listening to the girl's fantastic singing voice. When he was finally able to see he was amazed at what he saw. The person playing the guitar was not, as he originally guessed, a trained professional, but a girl, who looked at least fourteen years old. She had light brown hair down to her sholders and olive skin. Riccio couldn't see the girl's eyes due to the fact that she was looking at the neck of her guitar, watching her fingers move up and down on the strings. And somehow, through all the concentration it took to play the guitar, the girl was singing, singing with the most beautiful voice in the world, or at least that's what Riccio thought. "_Nananana. Hey Jude,_" the girl finished. The crowd cheered. "_Grazie,_" the girl said to the crowd in perfect Italian, smiling and giving them a slight bow. "That was my last song today. My throat's becoming sore." Her audience began departing, but before they left they threw some lire into the girl's guitar case and told her how fantastic she did.

Riccio wished he had kept the wallet. Then he could give some of the money to her... _Wait!_ he thought. Riccio looked back over to the young American teenager. She must have collected a hundred thousand lire from that song alone. Riccio looked the girl up and down as she was putting her money in a brown paper bag. She wore a nice red coat to keep out the cool air that was fast approaching. Her jeans were without patches and her black sneakers looked new. Her clothes were clean and she looked well-fed. _Yes,_ Riccio thought, _this girl is well off! She doesn't _need_ all that money. It's not like she's living off the street and starving like we are!_ Then Riccio made his decision to rob the girl. He sure hoped he got away with it too; Riccio was small and thin and this girl looked like she could knock the living daylights out of him. He watched the girl put her bag of money in her coat pocket, a very easy place for Riccio to grab the money. Riccio walked by the girl he "accidently" bumped into her, and in doing so, put his hand into her pocket, grabbing the money. "_Scusi,"_ Riccio said.

"It's okay," the girl said, smiling. As Riccio turned to leave, he took the money out of the girl's pocket and walked on. _Yes!_ he thought. He was successful! He walked on with purpose, proud of the fantastic steal he just performed. He got to an abandonded alley and did a small dance of accomplishment. But this happiness didn't last long. Before he relized what was happening, Riccio was pushed up against a wall. He looked at his attacker; it was the singer girl. _Oh no,_ Riccio thought. _ She discovered the money was missing and now she going to kill me!_

"Where's my money?" the girl questioned him in English. Her green eyes stared angerily into his.

"Uh- _Non parlo inglese._" Riccio replied, terrified. "No English!"

The girl shoved him harder against the wall. "Where is my money?" the girl repeated, now in crisp, clear Italian.

"Oh, uh I don't have your money." Riccio squeaked. He was not going to give up the money that he stole perfectly. _Well, almost perfectly,_ he thought.

"Come on, kid," the girl said. The rage left her eyes. Now they pleaded with him. "Just give me my money and I'll leave you alone."

"Is there a problem here?" asked a voice. Riccio know that voice. The girl and Riccio turned their heads to the sound of the voice. Instantly, Riccio had calmed down. At the end of the alley stood Prosper and Scipio. Prosper had light brown hair and a protective, serious face. Scipio's hair was raven black, long and pulled back into a ponytail. His face was thin, and his eyes were dark as night. He was wearing a long black coat that reached the floor and high-heeled shoes.

"Yeah, we have a problem," the girl replied. She let go of Riccio to face the boys. She pointed at Riccio. "This kid stole my money."

"Did he?" the Thief Lord asked, amused. He had a small smile on his face. "When?"

"About five minutes ago at St. Mark's Square," the girl said. Adjusting the guitar case which hung on her sholder.

"Well then Miss..." Scipio paused, wanting the girl to tell him her name.

"Mia," she said shortly, knowing Scipio was trying to use his charm to help Riccio.

"Well then Miss Mia, I regret to inform you that you have the wrong guy."

"I do not!" the girl, Mia, yelled. "I followed him after I lost the saw the money was gone."

"Well, my friend over there was with us until about a minute ago," Scipio lied. Mia's face fell. "I sent him to buy us some cakes at the bakery at the other end of this alley. We were curious what was taking him so long when we happened upon you two."

"Your lying!" Mia yelled, crushed. "I followed him! All I want is my money back. I won't even call your mother, now just give it back!" Riccio shook hs head. He didn't have a mother for her to call.

"I think you lost the boy you were following in the crowds," Scipio said, "and followed my friend here instead. It's an honest mistake. Now we better be getting home. It's getting dark. Now, if you'd please let him go..."

Mia looked at the boys: a terrified Riccio, a certain Scipio, an embarrassed Prosper, who looked very fasinated with the pavement. Riccio looked back at Mia, who's face showed a mixture of desperation- and fear. _Why is she afraid?_ Riccio thought. _She could probably take down the three of them with one blow._

Mia shifted her guitar again. "Whatever," she said. She walked to the end of the alley and kicked a rock and said a word in English that Prosper refused to translate.

After she was gone, the boys turned to Riccio. "You better have gotten a lot for what we just went through," the Thief Lord said.

Riccio held open the paper bag full of cash and said, "She was singing in St. Mark's Square. She can make it all back tomorrow, easily. Trust me."

Prosper shook his head. Prosper hated stealing things. He felt so bad doing it, and was afraid that if he was caught he would be sent to prision and his brother Bo would be sent to their horrible Aunt Esther who, after thier mother died, only allowed Prosper to see Bo once a month.

"Well, at least its a decent amount," Scipio relpied. "Now, I ought to be off. Tell the other's I'll be back later tonight." He walked to the oposite side of the alley. "Oh, and Riccio," Scipio called out. Prosper and Riccio turned their heads. "Next time, don't choose a teenage girl. They tend to be very hormonal." And with that, the Thief Lord was gone.


	2. The Angry Americans

The Thief Lord crept through the streets of Venice, using the night as a cloak. He was dressed the same way as he was when he and Prosper found Riccio and Mia in the alley, with one exception; he now was wearing a black mask that looked like a bird or prey. Masks like these were worn by doctors during the time of the Black Plauge, and it made Scipio look rather menacing. But Scipio wasn't as graceful in the dark as he normally was. Ever since Scipio left the alley, he couldn't help but think about Mia. It left he oddly distracted, and as he was walking to the Stella, the movie theatre he found for the kids to live in, he kept walking into garbage cans and stepping into pot holes. He just couldn't get that girl out of his mind.

She was beautiful, Scipio thought. He was embarrassed about it, but he couldn't help it. He loved that her hair flared out at the bottom. He hated that her bangs covered one of her eyes, because with eyes that beautiful, that wonderfully green, they shouldn't be covered up. Even her nose was perfectly crooked, like it was broken once. But her looks weren't the only reason why Scipio kept thinking about the girl.

Why did Mia look so scared? It seemed like her having that money was life or death. But Riccio was right; Mia did look like she was doing fine. She was clean and fed and was wearing warm clothes. It didn't seem like she needed the money for food or clothes. What if, Scipio thought, what if she needed to pay back some bad guys, and now they're going to hurt her? Scipio shook the thought from his head. If that was the case, and he found out that Mia was dead someplace, he would hate himself for letting Riccio get away with the money.

The Thief Lord stopped and took a breath in front of a shabby looking house. The front was dirty and the windows panes were either broken or crooked. From inside Scipio heard shouting, but thought nothing of it. Everytime Scipio walked by this house at this time of night, there were shouting. A man and a woman by the sound of it. The man sounded drunk, and the woman sounded incredibly pissed off. The drunk man kept going from Italian to English and back again. The couple sounded American. Scipio suddenly got excited. Maybe, he thought, these are Mia parents. I'll look into the window to see. But just as Scipio was walking towards the window, the side door burst open.

"You little bitch!" the man yelled, in Italian once again. He pushed a figure outside. "You are sleeping out here tonight with the rest of the trash."

"Then why aren't you out here?" the girl yelled back.

No, Scipio thought. It couldn't be...

The man slapped the girl hard across the face then went inside the house. As the girl collected her Scipio relised that his guess was right. This girl who was thrown out of her own house like a piece of trash was the one and only Mia.

Scipio didn't understand. Mia rubbed her face where her father had slapped her. He watch Mia move herself to a corner and open up a backpack that was hidden there and take out a blanket. She didn't seem shaken by what had just happened, she wasn't acting upest. Actually, Mia acted as though this happened every night. She was outside in shorts and a long-sleeved shirt that was so large it most likely belonged to her father. Mia's feet were bare, but the brisk cold did not effect her. She just wrapped herself in the blanket and started tuning her guitar, which was also hidden back there. If this did happen every night, why didn't Mia run away and save herself from that terrible man. She needed help. And Scipio was going to be the one to help her.

Hestitantly, Scipio stepped out from behind Mia's house and walked towards her. "Um, Mia?" Scipio asked causiously.

Mia looked up and jumped in fright. Scipio touched his mask, he had forgotten he was wearing it. He noticed a red handprint across on Mia's cheek from where her father had hit her. "Hey look," Mia said, annoyed. "It's the basterd kid who let that other basterd kid walk away with my money."

The Thief Lord was offended by this. "Your the one who let him go," Scipio said raising his voice. "Wait a minute. How did you know it was me?" Scipio took off the mask.

"Easy," Mia said. "One, I reconize your voice. Two, you know my name. Three, your wearing the same stupid clothes you were wearing before."

"Hey! My clothes aren't stupid!" Scipio yelled.

"Shh!" Mia said. "Do you really want my father to come out here?" Her eyes grew wide at the very idea of her father coming back out.

Scipio looked down. "Sorry," he said. He kneeled down and gathered the courage to say what he was here to say. "Mia, why are you out here?"

Mia stiffened. "When I don't get enough money for my dad, he makes me sleep out here as a punishment."

Scipio felt a pang of guilt. "Doesn't your mom try to stop him?"

"My mom died a few years after we moved to Venice. She had breast cancer," Mia said, with her head hanging low. Then she suddenly looked up. "Why am I telling you this?" she asked angrily. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because," Scipio said sweety, taking off his mask. "I want to help."

"I don't need your help."

"Really?" Scipio said, standing up. He got louder. "Because it looks to me like your mother is dead, your father beats you, and he makes you sleep outside when you don't make enough money for him. I think that this place- ow!" As Scipio was talking to Mia he swung out his hand and put his hand through the glass in her side door with a loud crash. Mia ran over to him and helped get his out of the window.

"Nice going," Mia said sarcasticly. Just then loud bangs came stomping through Mia's house. Mia became pale, her green eyes grew in fear. "Put your mask back on," she said as she grabbed her blanket and stuffed it in her backpack. Scipio did as he was told. At that exact moment, the side door burst open. A gigantic man walked through. His hair was matted and grey, and he had stubble around his face. He smelt heavily of alchohol and his clothes were dirty and stained, like they were never washed. Scipio was confused. This man couldn't be Mia's father. The two look nothing alike. Mia was pretty and odorless and good natured, even if she is a bit sarcastic. Her father was a great big ugly brute. The only thing that they had in common was the same green eyes, but his were glazed over with the alchohol he was consuming.

The brute looked at the two children. "'ey!" he yelled. "'oo the 'ell is this?"

"Dad," Mia said, stepping towards her father. He punched her in the face, barely missing the bridge of her nose. However, he did hit her right eye, which swelled right before Scipio's eyes.

Scipio had enough of this. "I am the Thief Lord," he announced, "and I'm hear to take you daughter away."

"What?" Mia's father asked. He burst out laughing. "What are you gonna do? Poke me with your nose, bird-boy? Yeah right." He threw a punch at Scipio, who just dogded it.

"Stop it!" Mia yelled at her father, trying to push his fat self back inside the house. But the man wasn't through. He pushed Mia away and went at Scipio again. This time, however, he drunkenly tripped over his own feet landing on the ground with a loud thump. Scipio saw their chance at escape.

"Grab your stuff!" Scipio yelled to Mia. Mia nodded, confused in the panic. She put her backpack around her sholders and grabbed her guitar. "Good. Now grab my hand," he said holding out his good hand. When she took it, he started running away, pulling her along with him.

"'ey!" the man yelled after them, still oin the ground. "You come back 'ere with my daughter!"

The children just kept running until they were inside the secret passage way to the Stella's entrance. They just stood there for a moment, catching their breath. Then Scipio looked at Mia. "Are you alright?" he asked.

She nodded. "Let me see your hand." She took his hand and looked at it carefully. "There are bits of glass in it," she said. Mia dug through her backpack until she found a flashlight and a pair of tweezers. She gave Scipio the flashlight to hold and used the tweezers to pick out the bits of glass. When she was done, she cleaned the wound and put a gauze on it.

Scipio looked at her and smiled. "Thank you," he said.

Mia smiled as she put the things back into her bag. "Don't mention it."

"How's your eye?" Scipio asked her, looking at it. It had swollen to the point where that eye was squinting.

"I'll be fine," Mia said, pulling out an ice pack from her bag. "I've had worse. Plus, I can cover it with my bangs."

Scipio looked into her bag. "Do you have an entire hospital in there?" he asked, laughing.

Mia looked at him, smiling. "Always be prepared, that's my motto."

"Well, since you can't go home now," Scipio said, putting his mask back on, "would you like to meet your new family?


	3. At the Stella

Mia and Scipio crept along the dark alleyway to the Stella's emergency exit. The air was cool and crisp, and Mia could see her breath. Goose bumps ran up and down Mia's bare legs. _God,_ she thought, _Why the hell did I decide to wear shorts?_ That wasn't the only thing Mia was questioning. Why did she go with Scipio?_ If Dad finds me, I'm dead,_ she thought. God, why did he have to be so charming? Why did she was she stupid enough to follow him? It was the way he looked at her. It was a stupid, puppy-dog, but there was something else. It was a caring look. Scipio really and truely cared about her. It warmed Mia up just thinking about it, but it also scared her. She hasn't gotten a look like that since her mother died. Her father used to care about her, now he makes Mia sleep outside and drinks himself to sleep every night. Is something like that going to happen with Scipio?

"Are you cold?" Scipio asked, breaking Mia's thoughts. He was looking at how she was rapping herself in her arms. He started to take off his jacket.

"No thanks," Mia said, shaking her head.

"I insist-"

"Really, it's okay," Mia smiled. "Its nice to know that civilry isn't dead, but really, I'm good."

Scipio shrugged. "Just as well, we've made it anyway."

"This is a bit anti-climatic, isn't it?" Mia was exepting something more secretive, scarier. However, what she saw was the plainest door Mia had ever seen. It was plain metal, with a cord on its right and "Vietato Ingresso"-No Entry was painted on the doorway. Scipio reached up, grabbed the cord and gave it two tugs. Then he waited a moment, and tugged again.

"I'd remember that if I were you," Scipio said, turning to Mia. "It's one of the two passwords. No one will let you in without it."

"What's the other password?" Mia asked.

"Catago Diddledoo East," Scipio replied.

"You have got to be kidding me," Mia, said with an exasperated look on her face. "There is no way in hell I'm gonna remember that."

"Well, you've got to try," Scipio said.

Mia rolled her eyes at him. Suddenly the door opened for them. "Come on in," said a familiar voice.

"Riccio, how many times do I have to tell you to ask the damn password?" Scipio said.

The boy, Riccio hung his head as he opened the door wider for them. Mia knew this exploding hair. "Hey look," she said, "Bastard kid number two."

Riccio nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of her voice. He whipped his pale face around towards Scipio. "Why the hell did you bring her hear?"

"Because she, just like you Riccio, was uncomfortable with her current living arrangements. Now, please let us through."

Mia smiled sassily while Riccio, dumbfounded, let them pass. The room that they enter was amazing. It was what used to be a movie theater. There was a red curtain with stars on it, the lighting was dim, and most of the seats were missing. In the middle of the isle there were six mattresses, and on those mattresses, there were six children. Mia recognized one; he was the quiet kid that was there when Scipio and Riccio took her money. There was also a small blonde boy, about six years old, a tall, muscley boy with eyes as brown as his skin, and a girl, with long black hair in a tight braid going down her back. The muscley boy smiled and called, "Riccio, go on, tell us again about how you, Prosper, and Scipio took down that American girl in St. Mark's Square."

Mia raised her eyebrows and turned to Riccio. "Yeah Riccio," Mia said, "Tell us."

The other kids looked at her horrified while Scipio stepped up next to her. "Everyone ," he said. "This is Mia. Mia, you know Riccio, and you met Prosper today. The girl over there is Hornet, the little one is Bo, and that is Mosca. Now, everyone, I hope you make Mia feel at home here in the Stella. Mia, why don't you make camp over there by the others?"

As much as Mia didn't want to, she obeyed as she walked with false confident towards the others. She took her banket out of her backpack and laid it down next to Hornet, who seemed the friendliest. Then, not knowing what to do, Mia akwardly took out her guitar and began tuning it, even though it didn't need tuning. The next thing she knew the little one, Bo, was right next to her, "Hi," he said, cheerfully, unaware of the silence around him. "I'm Bo."

Mia smiled at him. "So I've heard."

"Are you American?" He asked. "You talk funny."

"Yup," she said. "Are you British? You talk funny too."

Bo smiled. "I like you," he said. "Your funny."

"Thank you. I like you too," Mia said beaming. She hasn't had a friend since she moved to Venice, and even though Bo couldn't be older than six, Mia was glad she had a friend again.

Prosper straightened up. "Bo," he said, "why don't you take Mia on a tour of the Stella?"

"Okay, yeah!" Bo said exicitedly. He took Mia by the hand and dragged her away to explore his magic Star Palace.


	4. Bo's Star Palace

As Bo dragged Mia off to show her their home, the remaining children turned and faced Scipio, who was staring after Mia. When Scipio noticed the others were staring at him, he looked puzzled. "What?" he asked innocently.

"What?" Riccio repeated. "What?"

"Went went through your head when you brought her here?" Mosca said. "Did you even think about how the rest of us would react, or did you merely think about how much she'll love you if you did this for her?"

Hornet walked over to Scipio. She had her favorite book in her hand, _The Lord of the Rings_. Hornet loved to read. She was defiantly the book worm of the group. "They're right, Scipio. I mean, I don't want her to be homeless as much as you do, but there is going to be a lot of tension after what happened this afternoon. I'm not sure its goo for the group."

"Just kick her out Scipio!" Riccio said loudly, but not loud enough for Bo or Mia to hear. "Just tell her that there is no more room and you get back to her when there is. Besides, you saw her, how nice she was dressed! How 'uncomfortable' can she be!"

Scipio got angry. "You three ought to be ashamed of yourselves!" he said. "It's okay if you have a safe place to sleep at night but she can't? You can have new people come here, but Mia's not allowed? What if when you brought Prosper and Bo here I said, 'No they can't stay because they have someone to watch them, even if they don't care.' What your doing with Mia is ten times worse, do you know why? Because her father is a slobbering drunk! He beats Mia like she's nothing. Want to know why she looked so scared when you took her money? Because her father makes her sleep outside of her own home when she doesn't bring him enough! I saw her get thrown outside like she's a piece of trash, and I had to put a stop to it before Mia got killed. So she is staying, like it or not." With that, Scipio left, slamming the emergency exit closed behind him.

Meanwhile, while everyone else was telling Scipio why Mia had to go, Bo was dragging Mia along, telling her why she had to stay. "These are the bathrooms," Bo said, stopping at two doors clealy marked boy and girl. "You go in the girl's room. I wouldn't go in the boy's room if I were you. It smells in there."

Mia laughed as she got pulled along by this innocent ball of energy. He probably didn't realize that the other children were trying to get Mia kicked out. Scipio's a guineas, she thought, bringing me here to the kid I nearly beat to a pulp and all of his friends. Very smart idea. Though her mental sarcasm could not be helped, Mia really did appreciate Scipio bringing her here. At least she has a new friend, even if he only reaches her waist. And she would be able to see Scipio more often now!

Why did that make her excited? It shouldn't have. Scipio was just another boy. A boy with an adorably arrogant smile. A boy with the most mysterious eyes. A boy that makes her heart do flips when he looks at her... No! Mia thought. No! I cannot like Scipio. I cannot, I cannot, I cannot! And yet, she could not help smiling when she hears his name.

"Scip steals things for us, that's how we buy our food," Bo said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"What? Steal?" Mia asked.

"Yup! That's why he's the Thief Lord. He's the best thief in the world, and one day I'm gonna help him steal stuff!" Bo proclaimed excitedly.

Mia sat on a metal step and motioned Bo to sit on her lap. "Now Bo," she said. "Stealing is not good. It's against the law. You'll rot in prison."

Bo rolled his eyes at her. "You sound just like Prop."

"Good," Mia said. "That means Prosper cares about you just as much as I do."

"Of course Prop cares about me. He's my brother," Bo told her.

"No kidding?" Mia said. "You don't look at all alike."

Bo shrugged. "I don't care, though. I am going to be a famous thief, just like Scip!"

Mia shook her head. "How about we make a deal. I'll teach you how to play the guitar if you promise that you will never say that you want to be a thief ever again. Deal?" Mia as sticking out her hand.

Bo excitedly shook her hand. "Deal!" he exclaimed. "Let's start right now!"

"Let's start tomorrow," Mia corrected. "It's eleven o'clock at night and your starting to fall asleep in my lap." That wasn't necessarily true. Mia was the one who was ready to fall asleep. "How about I play you a lullaby instead?"

"Alright!" Bo said, jumping from her lap and running to where the others were camped out. "Guys! Mia's gonna play me a song!"

"Yeah, let's hear if she's as good as Riccio says!" Mosca proclaimed. Mia blushed. She wasn't ready to play in front of them. She can play for strangers by a fountain, but for the people she is supposed to be living with from now on? Nope, that's scary, especially considering they don't like her.

"Come on then, Mia! Let's go!" Hornet exclaimed.

Mia nervously took her guitar and began strumming. Everyone sat down on their mattresses and stared at her. "_Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away." _Again, she sang in English, making it so only Bo and Prosper were able to understand what she was saying. "_Why she had to go, I don't know, she wouldn't say."_

"What's she saying?" Hornet whisper to Prosper, engrossed in Mia's song.

"The song is about the guy's life falling apart after his girlfriend left," Prosper answered.

"Shh!" Mosca said.

"_Yesterday love was such an easy game to play. Now I need a place to hide away. Oh, I believe in yesterday. Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm." _Mia stopped. Bo was passed out on the mattress. Everyone else was staring at her. "Um. I'm done."

"Wow," Prosper said.

"That was fantastic!" Hornet proclaimed softly so she wouldn't wake Bo. "You're great!"

Mia looked down and blushed. "Thanks," she said softly. "For everything."


	5. The Newsaper

Early the next day, Bo shook Mia awake. "Mia!" he called. "It's tomorrow! You promised to start teaching me how to play the guitar."

Mia slowly started to wake up. "What?" she groggily asked. "Oh yeah, the guitar. Give me five minutes." She started to lay back down.

"Come on!" Bo said. "You promised!"

"Please Mia," Mosca said from across the mattresses. He too was half asleep. "Just go teach him. He's driving me crazy."

Mia gave a sigh of defeat. She lifted herself up. "Fine. I'm up, I'm up."

"Yay!" Bo squealed, picking up Mia's guitar and running toward the theater curtains with it. Mia moved slower, taking her time to stretch and wake herself up on the way. As she reached the curtain, she found Bo playing with the tuner.

"Nah!" Mia gasped, reaching for her guitar. "Rule one of guitar: Never mess with the tuner." She started to re-tune the guitar. "It takes forever to fix."

"I'm sorry," Bo said, looking down.

Mia smiled at him. "It's okay, bud. You couldn't have known. Just give me a second to fix it." After a few minutes, the guitar was properly tuned again. "Alright, so let's get started." She moved Bo onto her lap and placed his hands on the neck and gave him a pick. "Now this guitar is a bit big for you, so don't be all frazzled if you don't get it right away. So these," Mia said, pointing to the wooden spaces separated by copper lines, "are called frets. To play a song, you move your fingers up and down the frets while you use the pick to play the strings."

"Alright let me try!" Bo exclaimed.

"Little dude, chill," Mia said smiling. "You don't even know any notes." She adjusted Bo's fingers. "Now, this is the-" Mia didn't get a chance to finish. A loud, arrogant voice interrupted her.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Signora e signore, may I have your attention please."

Mia's heart jumped, but she hid it in her voice. "Scipio," she said, trying to sound exasperated. "Scip!" Bo yelled, running towards Scipio. "Scip! Mia was teaching me how to play the guitar."

Scipio smiled. "Was she really?"

"Scipio, why the hell are you interrupting my lesson?" Mia asked, walking up to Scipio like she was mad at him.

"I'm sorry, Mia,"Scipio said, smiling at her, "but I saw something that you might want to see." He took out a newspaper. A picture of a girl that kind of looked like Mia was on the front page. Mia squinted at the front page. "Well?" Scipio said, smiling. "What about that?"

Mia still stared at the front page. Everyone looked at her then she gave up. "I can't read in the morning. You read it."

Scipio looked confused, but read the paper anyway. "Masked midget kidnaps teenage girl." He turned away and smiled at Mia. Then he continued. "Last night at around 10:30 P.M. Mr. Dominic Rosalia went to the police station to report that his fourteen-year-old daughter, Mia Rosalia, was kidnapped right in front of his eyes. 'Mia was taking out the trash when I heard a crash. I went outside to check on her and the next thing I know, I see this midget grab her and runs away with her. Mia tried to shake him off but she ain't that strong and he was pretty strong for a midget.' Mr. Rosalia describes the kidnapper as short with dark hair and dark eyes, and he seemed quite intelligent." Scipio smiled, quite proud of himself.

Mia rolled her eyes. "My father is so stupid. You are so not a midget."

Hornet looked at Scipio and Mia. "This is not good!" Hornet said. "If someone finds Mia, she'll get sent back to her father. You might go to prison. We can get sent to an orphanage."

Scipio shook his head. "Something tells me that won't be a problem."

"Why on Earth do you think that?"Hornet asked, a bit annoyed.

Scipio cleared his throat and continued reading the article. "Though Mr. Rosalita seems saintly, several accusations from his neighbors may prove otherwise. One neighbor, who requested to remain nameless, told the authorities that Signore Rosalita and Mia are often heard shouting at each other from several houses away. From the window one night, this neighbor even claims to have witnessed Signore Rosalita beating Mia, then throwing her outside, for reasons unknown. Once Mia has been found a child abuse case will be opened."

Hornet still looked concerned. "Well," she said with her hands on her hips, "you can still get in trouble Scipio. And what if Mia's father was proven innocent, huh?"

Mia walked over to Hornet. She smiled. "Hornet, honey, chill. Take a deep breath. This picture," Mia pointed to the picture in the paper, "barely looks like me. It's a rather vague picture, plus its black and white. There must be many people in Venice with short hair and eyes like mine. The nose isn't even crooked. Now how about you read us a story. I like listening to stories."


	6. A Plan

The group sat around Hornet and listened to her read _The Lord of the Rings_. Hornet was a great reader. All of the characters had their own little voice. If Mia was watching Hornet, she would have noticed that she was expressing emotions through her face, however, Mia's eyes were not open. She was too busy absorbing in the words. Mia was fascinated with words. She was amazed that their were so many words to mean one thing. Mia wasn't very good with words; she was horrible with them. However, the sound of words made Mia giddy.

Hornet finished the chapter and put down the book and Mia held her applause. "Now, Mia we have to go get you some clothes. You can't go around Venice in those, you'll freeze."

Mia looked at her large shirt and shorts. Not only will she freeze, but the clothes were starting to fall apart. The sleeve of her shirt was frayed, as were the hem of her shorts. She cursed herself for not packing a pair of good clothes in her bag, but how was she supposed to know that she was going to be running away from home? Mia would sneak inside her house early in the morning to change into good clothes and make her and her father breakfast. By the time her father woke up, Mia was in Saint Mark's Square, trying to prevent another sleep-out. It never seemed to work though. Mia could get one billion lire and her father would still not consider it enough. Mia fixed her bangs to cover up her punched eye and agreed."I'll be right back," she said. "I've got to use the bathroom."

Hornet got her jacket and walked over to Prosper. "It's not gonna be cheap," she told him. "She doesn't even have shoes. Mia is going to need a completely new wardrobe."

"We should just get the Thief Lord to steal her clothes back," Prosper replied.

"I wouldn't let my worst enemy anywhere near my father," Mia said, coming up from behind her. "But. . ."

"What?" Prop asked her.

"What time is it?" Mia asked.

"About ten o'clock," Hornet told her. "Why?"

"My dad normally wakes up at noon," Mia said, a sly smile forming on her face, "and I still have my key. I can sneak into my house and steal my clothes back. Then we can your money to buy more important things. Like food."

"I don't know," Hornet said, fiddling with her braid. "It sounds dangerous."

"Trust me Hornet," Mia said, putting her hand on Hornet's shoulder. "I've got a plan."


	7. Deceitful Memories

The walk to Mia's house was silent. Prosper and Hornet were too nervous to speak. Mia's father sounded scary. Serial killer scary. So what if he doesn't normally get up until noon? There were always days where things just change, for example, the time people get up in the morning. Mia, however, felt like she needed to do this. Ever since her mother died, her father has been a drunk, abusive man. It might not be much, but Mia felt like she would accomplish so much by just doing this one thing. Mia didn't tell this to Prosper and Hornet. She didn't think they would understand. Hell, she barely understood herself.

Mia looked both ways then walked onto her street, with Hornet and Prosper close behind her. "Which one is it?" Hornet asked, looking around the street.

Mia pointed. "That piece of crap. The one next to the house with the purple flower box."

"What's the plan?" Prosper asked. "You mentioned you had one."

Mia nodded and produced the key that was hanging around her neck by a piece of string. "The plan is, I use this key to open my door, grab my clothes, and walk out, praying my dad doesn't wake up."

Mia kept moving towards her house, but Hornet and Prosper stopped. "_That_ is your plan?"

"Yes," Mia said, still walking towards the house.

Hornet pulled Mia back by the neck of Mia's shirt. "That is the single most horrible plan I have ever heard. What are we going to do if your dad wakes up?"

"My other plan," Mia said. "The, holy-crap-my-dad-is-awake plan."

Hornet and Prosper looked at each other. Hornet rolled her eyes and asked, "Well, what's _that_ plan?"

"Well, if my dad does wake up, you two hide behind, I don't know, something. Now, my dad is most likely going to be hung over, which means he is most likely going to be groggy from all that alcohol. I'm going to trick my dad into thinking that I was never gone."

Prosper and Hornet stared at her. "That was the second worst plan I've ever heard," Hornet said. "You can't make your dad think you never left."

Mia shook her head. "You've never seen someone wake up after they were drunk, have you?" From Hornet's expression, Mia guessed she had not. "Listen, alcohol does funky crap to your brain. Now, my father drinks a lot of alcohol and isn't that smart to being with. He wakes up after a night of drinking and he has no idea where he is. He thought I was my mom. Twice."

"I don't know Mia. . ." Prosper said, nervously.

"Prosper," Mia said. "I once convinced my dad I was Aaron Carter."

Prosper was still uneasy, but he could tell there was no stopping Mia now. The trio just walked up to the door and, using Mia's key, walked into the house. The place was a mess. Piles of the clothes were scattered all over the place. The television was on, though no one was watching it. The couch was puke green and completely crooked. The only neat place that Prosper and Hornet could see was a small table that was full of pictures. Prosper looked at one of the pictures. It was a picture of a family of three at a beach. The father was handsome, with thick blonde hair and shining green eyes. The mother was beautiful. Her hair was long and brown, the exact same color as her eyes. Her face was round and happy. In between the two of them was a little girl, about eight years old. She was a mix of both of her parents: her father's bright green eyes, her mother's round face. They were all hugging each other, with hug smiles on their faces.

"That was us in Point Pleasant," Mia said quietly, looking at the picture over Prosper's shoulder. "It's a beach in New Jersey. We went every summer. My parents met there, when they were twenty. My mom," she said pointing to the woman in the picture, "her name's Maria. She was born and raised here in Venice. She moved to America to study literature. My dad grew up in Point Pleasant. He had this band that never amounted to anything. One summer, my mom was staying in a beach house in Point Pleasant, and she auditioned to be the singer in my dad's band. She got in, and they just clicked."

Mia picked up a different picture of her mother. She was older here, and she looked tired. "This was taken right after my mom got diagnosed with breast cancer," she said. "I was eleven. Right before we moved to Venice. You see, my mom wanted to spend her final years in Venice, her home. We packed up right away when she told us, and we moved into the house where she grew up. Three years later, she died. That's when dad started drinking. It wasn't so bad at first, but it just got worse and worse until he became the same bastard he is today. The first time he hit me, I cried for two days. I just couldn't believe this was happening. " Mia closed her eyes and sighed. "Come on. My room's this way."

Prosper and Hornet just stared at each other as Mia walked to her room. "Wow," Hornet whispered.

"I know," Prosper replied. "Did you know about any of that?"

"No," Hornet said.

"Hey, Whisper One and Whisper Two," Mia called out gently, "You guys coming, or are you going to whisper about my past the whole time?"

A bit embarrassed, Prosper and Hornet walked into Mia's room. It looked like it should have belonged to anyone other than Mia. The walls were painted light pink and there were stuffed animals on the ground and in chairs. The bed comforter was the same shade of pink as the walls, though it looked like it hasn't been used in ages. The room looked like it should have belonged to a little girl, or at least someone much frillier than Mia. "Mia," Prosper whispered, who was stuffing a plastic bag with jeans and shirts.

"I know," Mia said, "It's disgustingly girly. When I was eleven, I was concentrating on my mom more than I was on the décor of my bedroom. Then when my dad started, you know, I figured it would be safer for all parties involved to just keep my room the way it was. I'm hardly ever in here anyway." Then Mia looked at Hornet and asked, "Do you want any of these? A lot of these don't fit me anymore, and you're more than welcome to take anything you want."

"Oh, no thank you," Hornet said, denying the offer politely. She wanted some new clothes, of course, and she did like Mia's clothes. She just wasn't one to take people's charity.

"Oh come on!" Mia said. She ran over to Hornet and showed her a black skirt and a yellow and black striped sweater. "You would look great in this. You would look like an actual Hornet."

Hornet looked at the clothes and smiled at Mia. "Thanks," she said, taking the clothes from Mia.

Mia handed her a plastic from underneath the bed. "Take whatever you want. I insist."

Hornet and Mia finished putting all their clothes into bags and left the room, with Prosper at their heels. Suddenly, from behind a closed door, there was a loud thump and then a groan. "Shit," Mia said. "It's my dad. Hide in my room, I got this."

"Mia," Hornet said, trying to drag her into the room with them.

"Just go Hornet," Mia said, shaking her off. Then Mia ran into the kitchen.

"Come on, Hornet," Prosper said, guiding her into the room, shutting the door right before Mia's father stumbled out of his room. He walked to the kitchen with a major hangover, his head aching with pain. When he entered the kitchen, he found Mia making some scrabbled eggs in the kitchen.

"'ey!" he yelled, seeing his daughter.

"Good morning, Daddy," Mia said, smiling, putting the eggs in a plate.

"Where the 'ell 'ave you been, girl?" Mia's father yelled.

"Outside, like you told me to last night," Mia lied calmly. She went to hand her father the eggs.

Her father didn't take the eggs, though. Instead, he slapped Mia across the face, who promptly dropped the eggs. As the eggs were scattered across the floor, he yelled, "Don't you lie to me girl! I saw you and that bird boy run off last night. I know, 'cause I got me this bump on my 'ead." He moved his hand away from his head to show the bump that was there.

Mia bent down to start cleaning up the eggs and sighed at her father. "Dad, you got that bump when you lost your balance outside. You fell and hit your head on the window. The broken glass is proof."

Her father looked at the window and saw the broken glass. His face became puzzled. "But- but, I saw you. Last night, you and that bird-boy. I punched you. . ."

Mia showed her father her black eye. "You did punch me, last week." Mia sighed at her father. "Dad, you had a lot to drink last night, and you must have had some weird dreams. I mean, bird-boy? What is a bird-boy anyway?"

"I- but I. . ."

"Dad, why don't you go back to sleep?" Mia suggested. "You can get a few more hours sleep; I'll remake your eggs. When you wake up again, it will all be clear."

Her father appeared to think for a while and then agreed. "Yup, I think I will go to sleep." He kissed Mia on the top of the head and said, "Thanks baby. You're the best daughter a daddy could ask for. I shoulda known you wouldn't leave me." Then he stumbled back into his room. Mia waited for his loud snores and then signaled Prosper and Hornet to come out of her room.

"It's a good thing he didn't eat those eggs," Mia said. "He would have ended up with salmonella. There's no way they were finished cooking."

Prosper and Hornet just stood there, shocked. "How the hell did you do that?" Prosper asked.

"I'm amazing," Mia said. "Come on, let's get out of here." Prosper and Hornet left the house, but Mia lagged behind. She took last look at the house where she spent the last three years of her life. She saw the picture of her family back when everything was better. Mia picked it up and smiled at it. She placed the picture into her bag and left the house for what she hoped would be the last time.


	8. Smarts

_*Hey guys! Sorry for not writing! I've been super busy, but thanks for all of the support!*_

"Where have you guys been?" Mosca asked Mia, Prosper, and Hornet as he let them in through the door.

Mia smirked and said, "Shopping," holding up the bag full of clothes. She walked through the door as though the three of them truly did go shopping.

"Shopping?" Mosca asked. "Yeah, right. Now where did you guys go?"

Prosper and Hornet just looked at each other then walked away. Prosper, Hornet, and Mia decided on the way back to the Stella that this would be their little secret. If Scipio found out about their trip to Mia's house, he would flip out on them.

Mosca though, didn't take the hint. "Where?" he asked. "_Where the hell did you three go?"_

Mosca kept asking them where they went until they had reached the theater of the Stella. "Where have you guys been?" Riccio asked them, a bit agitated. "Do you know how hard it is to keep a hyper six-year-old occupied?"

"Speaking of Bo, where is he?" Prosper asked.

Out of nowhere, Bo came flying up and jumped on Prosper's back. Not expecting this, Prosper crumbled to the ground. "Hi Prop!" the little boy giggled.

"Ugh, Bo," Prosper said. "Get off of me!"

Bo held his ground, though, and kept chattering about his day while on his brother's back. "How much sugar did you give him?" Mia asked Riccio, who simply shrugged. A lot of it, it seemed. Bo's mouth was smeared with chocolate. Mia shook her head and sighed. She said, "Come on Bo; get off of your brother. You're crushing his rip cage."

Bo jumped off his brother and ran towards Mia. "Mia! Let's play guitar."

"Calm down, tiger," Mia said. "You're not gonna learn jack on this sugar high."

"Awhhhh!" Bo proclaimed.

"Come on, bro," Mia said, pulling Bo away from everyone. "Let's wash that chocolate off your face."

As Mia and Bo walked off to the bathrooms, Scipio walked into the room. "_Ciao_ everyone!" he yelled. Scipio looked around. "Where's Mia? You didn't kick her out did you?"

"She went to go wash chocolate off of Bo's face. She has more motherly compassion than Hornet," Mosca replied.

"So, what do you guys think of her?" Scipio asked the group.

Mosca shrugged. "She's not bad."

Riccio nodded. "She hasn't murdered me in my sleep, so that's positive."

"Well I like her," Hornet said, with Prosper nodding his head in agreement. "She's nice, really brave, smart, gifted-"

"Did you say smart?" Riccio asked. "She's not smart."

"What are you talking about?" Prosper asked. "The girl can speak two languages."

"That girl cannot read." Everyone stared at Riccio. "What? It's true."

"How do you know that Mia can't read Riccio?" Hornet asked.

"This morning when Scipio came in with the paper," Riccio replied. "'I can't read in the morning.' What a load of crap. That girl can't read at all."

"She can play the guitar," Scipio argued. "Mia _taught herself_ to play guitar."

"She might only know how to read music," Mosca said, walking over to Riccio, "or plays by ear."

"We're not saying that she's a dumb-ass for not know how to read," Riccio told them. "Her father was a bastard. He probably never let her go to school. But you know, if you can't read. . ."

Suddenly, Mia ran up to them. She was breathless, and her eyes were puffy, like she had been crying. "Prosper! Come quick," She said, trying to catch her breath.

"What's wrong?" Prosper asked, concerned.

"It's Bo," she said. "He fell, he hit his head." Mia looked like she was about to cry again.

"Is he okay? Where is he?" Prosper practically yelled at her.

"He's backstage," Mia said breathlessly, "stage right staircase."

Prosper took off towards the stage right staircase, with Hornet, Riccio, Mosca, and Scipio right behind him. Prosper's heart was racing; if Bo got hurt, how would he forgive himself? A better question is how they would get him help? He was a kid living in a movie theater. He didn't have the money to send Bo to a hospital. That meant if Bo was seriously hurt. . . Prosper shook that thought from his head as he neared the staircase.

Prosper turned the corner and saw the staircase. Bo was lying on the third step. "Bo!" he yelled as he ran towards his little brother's body. He shook Bo, trying to wake him up. Bo was still breathing, but he would not wake up. "Bo. Bo! Boniface!"

Bo stirred. "What is it Prop?" he asked sleepily.

Prosper gave a sigh of relief as he gave his brother a tight hug. "What happened, Bo? How did you fall? Where did you hit your head?"

"What are you talking about, Prop?" Bo questioned.

"Oh my God," Prosper said, looking over to his friends. "He has amnesia." Prosper began searching his brother's head for dents or bumps, trying to see where he hit his head. However, he could not find any.

"Prosper, _what_ are you talking about. I didn't hit my head. I fell asleep on the staircase," Bo said, giving his brother a concerned look.

"But Mia said-" Prosper replied confused looking at his friends. It was then he noticed a face was missing. "Guys, where's Mia?"

Everyone looked around, but Mia was nowhere in sight. "She's probably hyperventilating in the theater," Scipio said. "She was freaking out. How excited will she be when we tell her that Bo didn't pass out, he just had a sugar crash."

However, when the relived group went back into the theater to give Mia the good news, she was not there. "Mia!" Hornet called out, cheerfully. "It's okay! Bo's fine." But there was no reply. Everyone started calling for Mia, searching everywhere in the Stella.

But Mia was gone.

"Where is she?" Riccio questioned the group. "Where could she possibly have gone?"

"What were we talking about right before Mia came running out?" Scipio asked, suddenly very serious.

"Um," Mosca said, thinking. "We were talking about how she couldn't read."

"Why?" Hornet asked. "What's wrong, Scipio?"

"I think she heard us," Scipio said.

"What are you talking about?" Prosper asked.

"Her stuff is gone."

Everyone looked over to where Mia had kept her stuff. It was all gone. The bag of clothes, the backpack, even the guitar. All gone.

Mia had left the Stella.


	9. In St Mark's Square Again

Prosper came running up to the group standing nervously outside of the Stella. Breathing heavily, he said, "She wasn't at her dad's house."

Everyone sighed. They had all been searching all over Venice for hours looking for Mia. Everyone was worried, even Riccio. Though Mia obviously left on her own free will, her father might have snatched her after she left. Scipio, however, was beyond nervous. He looked as though he had just seen a ghost. He kept pacing back and forth, running his hand anxiously through his hair. But Scipio couldn't help it. He felt responsible for Mia's well being. After all, he was the one who took her away from her father. Scipio felt that it was his job to make sure that Mia never got hurt.

"This is your fault!" Scipio yelled at Riccio.

"Me?" Riccio asked angrily. "How is this my fault?"

"If you hadn't started going on about how Mia couldn't read, she never would have gotten insulted and left!"

Riccio looked extremely hurt. "Scipio," Hornet said calmly, ever the voice of reason, "that isn't fair."

Scipio sighed. "I know," he said. He turned to Riccio and sighed again. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled. I'm just so . . ." Scipio sighed for a third time as he ran his hand through his hair. "I'm going to go check St. Mark's Square."

"We already checked there," Mosca told Scipio as he walked away.

"Well, I'm going to go check again," Scipio replied leaving his friends at the Stella.

It was twilight by the time Scipio had reached St. Mark's Square. He was hungry and tired, but at the same time he felt determined to find Mia. At first he was nervous that Mia wasn't there, but he soon saw a figure sitting on the fountain. Scipio knew he had found Mia when the figure began playing music. "_The long and winding road that leads to your door, will never disappear._" Scipio was amazed; he was the only one of his friends that hadn't heard Mia sing yet. Riccio got hear Mia twice and he didn't even like her. He was amazed and stupefied, but he kept his head about him. He kept walking towards Mia, slowly and carefully. "_Don't leave me waiting here. Lead me to your door. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah._"

For a moment, Mia didn't move. She just sat there, looking at nothing. Then she said, "I'm not stupid, you know."

"What?" Scipio asked, a bit confused.

"I'm not," Mia repeated, still staring at nothing. "Stupid."

Scipio took a step towards her. "Mia, no one thinks you're stupid."

"Everyone does," Mia said.

"I don't," Scipio tried encouragingly. "Prosper doesn't. Hornet doesn't-"

"Riccio does," Mia interrupted. "So does Mosca." Before Scipio could interject, Mia kept going. "So does my dad. So did my mom. So do my old teachers, my old friends, my karate sense, everyone!"

"Mia . . ." Scipio began worriedly.

Mia looked liked she was going to cry. "Scipio. I'm dyslexic!"

Scipio just looked at her confused. "What?"

"It's a learning disorder," Mia said. "It's difficult for me to read because of it. It makes everything I read all messed up." Mia looked like she was going to cry. "Everywhere I went people would always think I was stupid. When I was a kid I was put into special education classes even though I'm smart. I just can't read well."

Scipio now understood Mia's angry reaction to Riccio's remarks. She was reminded of a life before her mother's death, a life full of ridicule." How did you learn to speak Italian?"

Mia said, "My parents spoke both English and Italian when I was born. I caught on to both."

"The guitar?"

"I play by ear," Mia answered. She smiled slightly when she said, "Not many musicians can do that."

Scipio sat down next to Mia and smiled at her. "Mia, you know no one cares if you can read or not at the Stella."

"I care though," Mia said, but Scipio quickly intervened.

"But you shouldn't," Scipio said. "I don't care if you can read or not." Scipio looked into her eyes. They were as bright as always, even with the black eye her dad gave her. Scipio loved those eyes. It felt like they could make all the bad things go away. "I love you just the way you are."

Mia giggled slightly at this. "You don't love me Scipio. How could you? We met yesterday."

"Do I look like Cupid?" Scipio asked her. "All I know is, from the moment we met I couldn't stop thinking of you."

And to prove to her how he felt, Scipio leaned in and kissed Mia.

Her lips were soft and her breathe smelt good. Mia's crooked nose pushed into his slightly, but it didn't matter. Scipio was a bit nervous. He never kissed anyone before. What if he was doing it wrong, or Mia didn't like him back? But when Mia started to kiss back, Scipio got the impression she like him too. No one tried to do anything gross, like stick their tongue down the other's throat. No, they merely kissed, and after a few seconds it was over.

After it was over, the two just sat on the fountain together, their foreheads leaning on each other, smiling. The Mia said, "That was my first kiss."

Scipio smiled at her. "Same."

"So now what?" Mia asked him quietly.

Scipio moved his forehead and looked at Mia straight in the eyes. "Now it means you're my girlfriend."

Mia laughed a bit. "What, I don't have a say in this?"

"You gave up that right when you kissed me back," Scipio said.

Mia kissed him again. "When we go back to the Stella, can you promise me something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Don't tell anyone about my dyslexia," Mia pleaded. "I don't care if you don't care. I'm still embarrassed that I can't do what most people can by the time they're six."

"Okay," Scipio said, smiling. He didn't care about Mia's dyslexia. In fact, it made her seem more real. He didn't tell her this though. He just took her hand and said, "Come on. Let's get you home."


	10. American Symbol of Friendship

Everyone at the Stella knew about what happened between Mia and Scipio as soon as they got back to the Stella. Maybe the holding hands gave it away. Or maybe it was the kiss goodnight. Either way, everyone knew.

After Scipio left, Mia bashfully walked up to Prosper. "Um, sorry about scaring you like that Prosper," she apologized. "I was just so," she sighed, "I don't know. I'm sorry."

Prosper was pretty upset that Mia tricked him like that. But Prosper knew that Mia loved Bo like he was her own little brother. And he also figured that Scipio would kill him if he didn't accept her apology. "It's okay, Mia. Just don't scare me like that again. Promise me, you won't scare me like that again."

Mia gave Prosper a smile. "Promise," she said holding out her fist. Prosper flinched, thinking that she was going to punch him. When he realized she wasn't going to hit him, he just stared at her fist. "What, you never bro-fisted before?" Prosper shook his head. Mia rolled her eyes and said, "Bump your fist against mine. That's how you bro-fist."

Prosper did as he was told with a bizarre look on his face. "Um, why?"

"It's an old American symbol of friendship," Mia said with a bemused smile on her face.

Prosper laughed. "I'm going to bed," he said. "It's been a long day."

Mia shook her head in agreement. Mia had tricked her father, ran away from her new home, got her first kiss, and got her first boyfriend all in one day. It was time for sleep.

_*Hey guys! I know it's a short chapter, but I'm really busy and I wanted to put something out. There will be more tomorrow I swear!*_


	11. Odd Connections

_*Yeah, so, I know I lied about the whole "tomorrow" thing, but three days is close enough. Enjoy!*_

Scipio visited the Stella everyday now, and even though he came so often for Mia, the two of them didn't separate themselves from the rest of the group. Actually, the two of them were almost always with the others. Scipio was still cocky, and Mia was still sarcastic. Mia still taught Bo the guitar, and Scipio still stole things. It was just like before, except with a lot more hand-holding.

However, something was bothering Scipio. He knew all about Mia. How her dad is an ass, how her mom died, how she's dyslexic. Mia knows next to nothing about him. It made Scipio dirty, that he was keeping things from her. Scipio had never been in a relationship before, but he knew from movies and shows that hiding something from your girlfriend was a bad thing. And even though Mia never questioned him about his family, he felt that she should know. Scipio decided that he wasn't just going to tell Mia about his family, he was going to show her. When this was going to happen, Scipio didn't know yet.

A week after the kiss, the two of them were hanging out, one-on-one. Scipio looked into Mia's eyes. Her black eye was healing well. That just reminded Scipio how much about her that he knew and how little Mia knew about him. He knew it was time to tell her.

"Come with me," Scipio told Mia, grabbing her hand and beginning to pull her along. Mia planted herself in one spot, refusing to be pulled. When Scipio turned around to see what the problem was, Mia raised her eyebrow at him, confused. "I need to show you something." Mia still did not move. "Please? It's important."

Mia gave him a small smile and began walking. "Well, since you said please."

Scipio smiled and his girlfriend a kiss on the cheek. The two walked along, acting just like best friends: making jokes; giving each other light shoves, holding hands, kissing. Soon, Mia noticed they were far away from the Stella, in a completely different part of Venice. The houses here were huge and elaborately decorated. Tall fences surrounded many of them. A thought struck Mia. "Scipio, we better not be going on one of stupid raids." Scipio's raids were the only sore spot between them. They tried not to talk about it.

"Just come on," Scipio said, pulling a struggling Mia with more force he knew he had. It was still difficult. Mia was much stronger than he was.

A few minutes later, the struggling couple stopped in front a large house. "Scipio I will not move one more step towards that house."

"Please, Mia?" Scipio asked. "I swear, we're not here to take anything from this house."

"Then why are we here Scipio?" Mia yelled, putting her hands on her hips.

Though the timing was terrible, Scipio thought that Mia looked really cute angry. This is why he got himself to blurt out, "Because I live here, Mia."

Mia's face showed her level of surprise. Her jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide in shock. Even her eye that was practically swollen shut was wide open. "You- you live-"Mia said, trying to spit it out.

"Here?" Scipio asked, finishing her sentence. "Yes, I do." Scipio took her hand. "Come on," he said, leading her into the house.

The house was huge. A huge golden chandelier hung from the ceiling in front of a rather impressive looking staircase. "Wow," Mia whispered, not wanting to disturb the peace that the house held. "I'm pretty sure your house could hold eight of my houses. Both the house here in Venice and the one I used to live in America. Just saying."

Scipio gave Mia a bashful smile. "Um, yeah," he said, not knowing what to say. He was embarrassed. He went around telling people he was an orphan, living in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Venice. He felt like a dirty rotten liar.

But leave it to Mia to make him feel better. She held out her hand and said, "So . . . are you going to show me around or not?"

Scipio smiled wider, took her hand, and began walking her around his large house. There was a kitchen that belonged on a cooking show, and living room _and_ a den, a dining room that could be used as a ball room if need be, four bathrooms that were as big as Mia's old bedroom, and six bedrooms. "This is my room," Scipio said, opening the door to reveal yet _another_ huge bedroom. This one was dark blue with brown trimming. The bed was king sized, and the bookshelf held over one hundred books.

"This is your room?" Mia asked, looking at Scipio. He nodded at her, and she jumped on top of the bed. "Oh my God! A bed! It's so comfortable!"

"Shut up," Scipio said. "You're making me feel bad."

"Why," Mia asked, perplexed.

"Because I have this huge house, both my parents, great stuff. You guys at the Stella only have each other," he said.

Mia walked over and held Scipio's hand. "All we need is each other, Scipio."

Just then, and man walked over to the two of them. He looked just like Scipio, just about thirty years older. Mia could have sworn she had seen him before. "Scipio," the man said, "who is this?"

"Dad," Scipio said, "this is Mia. Mia, this is my father. Dad, Mia is-"

"I'm his girlfriend," Mia said, giving Scipio's father her charming smile as she shook his hand. "Nice to finally meet you, sir."

Scipio's father studied her as he shook her hand. "Have we met?" he asked. "I have the oddest feeling we've met."

"I play guitar in St. Mark's Square a lot. Perhaps you saw me there?"

His father shook his head. Then he turned to his son. "We have diner tonight with the Rossenelli's at eight o'clock. Make sure you dress appropriately and _on time_. Please, Scipio, we do not need another incident like what happened with the Rosselli's when you came in fifteen minutes late wearing that ridiculous outfit."

Scipio's ears went red, the first time Mia ever saw Scipio embarrassed. But she was a bit surprised when Scipio asked his father if Mia can join them for dinner. "She has great manners."

That was a lie if Mia ever heard one. She could barely operate a fork. Mr. Scipio's Dad must have sensed it, because he promptly said, "No," and walked away, ending the conversation.

"I'm sorry about him," Scipio said when his father was a good distance away. "He's rather blunt and a bit of an arse and-"

"What's your last name?" Mia interrupted.

Scipio found the question odd, but answered none the less. "Massimo, why?"

Mia eyes grew wide in thought. "Is he doctor?"

"Yes, why?" Scipio asked her.

Mia sighed. "Um, your dad was, um, my mom's doctor, when she had, you know . . . cancer."

Scipio nodded his head slowly. Then he felt instant regret for taking Mia here. "Mia, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you here. I don't know what went through my head-" Mia's kiss interrupted his thoughts.

"Thank you for telling me," Mia said her face only inches from Scipio's. "If you didn't tell me but I still found out, I would have killed you." She gave him another kiss. "And don't worry," she said, "I promise I won't tell the others."

Scipio smiled and kissed Mia. Who was, most defiantly, perfect.


	12. Gone

A month went by. Everyone was gathered around Hornet, who was reading to them another chapter of the _Lord of the Rings_. Mia was resting her head on Scipio's shoulder, embracing the words Hornet was reading. Suddenly, loud bangs were heard from outside the Stella.

"What's that?" Bo asked.

Riccio looked up. "It sounds like gun fire."

Mia shook her head. "It _sounds_ like fireworks."

"Fireworks?" Bo asked excitedly. He grabbed Prosper's hand and began pulling him towards the door. Come on, let's get a look!"

The group followed the brothers outside. Outside, the night sky was exploding with colour. Blues and reds and yellows and pinks were bursting in the air. Bo was staring up at the sky, star-struck. Mosca put Bo on his shoulders. "How about we move closer, eh?" Mosca asked him.

"Yeah!" Bo answered excitedly.

Scipio held his hand out to Mia. "Shall we?"

Mia giggled, took his hand, and the two of them followed the group down the alley towards St. Mark's Square. "So Mia," Riccio said, "it's been over a month since you tried to kill me. I'm guessing that means we're square?"

Mia laughed. "Yeah, we're square." Though at first Riccio and Mia were uneasy round each other, the past month allowed them to open up around each other. Though not friends, they did not feel the need to kill each other every moment.

"Mia, have you seen fireworks before?" Bo asked sweetly, still looking up at the sky. It was clear he had never seen them before.

"Yeah," Mia replied. "Before I moved to Venice, every July forth my family would go see fireworks on the beach."

"Why?" Bo asked.

"Independence Day," Mia replied. "We celebrate when won our freedom from the British."

"Why?" Bo asked again.

"Oh, it's this whole song and dance," Mia replied. "A long story."

"Can you tell it?" Bo asked.

"You want me to tell you the story of the American Revolution?" Mia asked, a bemused smile on her face.

"Yeah!" Bo exclaimed.

Mia looked to Scipio. He just smiled and shook his head in amusement. "Okay," Mia said, laughing. "Here's the story of the American Revolution."

And that's the story that Mia told the group on the way to St. Mark's Square.

When they were about two blocks away from St. Mark's Square, the group could see a crowd of people. "Wow!" Bo exclaimed. Up close, the fireworks were much brighter and seemed a lot bigger.

"You guys go on ahead," Scipio called to the others. "I need to talk to Mia alone."

"Talk?" Mosca asked. "More like snog."

Mia and Scipio glared at him as the others walked away laughing. "That was a mood killer," Mia said. "You want to talk to me? About what?"

"Mia," Scipio said, "I know we've only known each other for about a month, and we've been dating each other for less than that, but. . ."

"What?" Mia asked quietly.

"But . . . ever since I first saw you, I could stop thinking about you. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I . . . I love you."

Mia's eyes lit up when she heard that statement. "You love me?"

Scipio closed his eyes and sighed. "And you don't love me back. God, I've made such a fool out of myself. God, Mia, I'm sorry. I really am. I am so, so, so-"

Mia kissed Scipio with more passion than she had ever kissed him before. It took Scipio by surprise. "I love you too," she whispered.

Scipio looked up at her with a look of surprise. "Really?" he asked.

Mia laughed quietly. "Why are you so arrogant with everyone but me?"

Scipio smiled. "Come on," he said. "We better catch up with the others."

Mia returned his smile, but just as she was about to hold his hand, something grabbed Mia from behind. Mia screamed, but a hand covered her mouth.

"Quiet you little bitch!" a voice yelled at Mia.

_No . . . _Scipio thought. _It can't be. . . _

Mia's father tried pulling Mia away from Scipio and the rest of the crowd. But Mia, ever the fighter, tried elbowing her father in the stomach, biting his hand, and attempted kicking him in the groin; however, nothing worked. Scipio came racing towards Mia's father. Mia's father, however, used his daughter as both a shield and a sword, thrusting her at Scipio whenever he got too close. At one point, Mia's father managed to hit him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him, causing Scipio to keel over. By the time Scipio could get up, Mia was gone.


	13. Kidnapped

"Mia!" Scipio yelled, running down the alley Mia disappeared from. "Mia!" Scipio's heart was pumping in his chest. "Mia! Where are you?" Tears were filling his eyes. He wanted to run to Mia's house, kick down the door, and beat Mia's father until he no longer moved. But Scipio knew he had to think rationally. He would never be able to save Mia on his own. He would need help. He ran back to St. Mark's Square, pushing people out of his way. Finally he found the Stella gang in the middle of the crowd, staring up at the fireworks, completely oblivious to what had just occurred.

"Scipio!" Riccio cheered. "Where's Mia? Did she run off again?"

"Her dad!" Scipio yelled breathlessly. "He grabbed her. I tried to stop him. But he's got her, it's all my fault."

"Her dad?" Hornet yelled.

"We have to help her!" Prosper exclaimed.

"I know that!" Scipio yelled at them. "Go the polizia. The police will help. Tell them what happened. Go!"

"What are you going to do?" Hornet yelled after him.

"I have to save her!" Scipio called back, running towards Mia's house.

"Come on let's go," Prosper told her, dragging Hornet and Bo toward the police station, with Mosca and Riccio following them.

The police station was quiet, not many people occupying it. "Help!" Prosper cried, bursting into the police station. "We need your help!"

A young, blonde police officer was manning the front desk. "What's wrong kids? Your cat fall in the canal?"

Hornet glared at him. "Our friend has been kidnapped you bastard! We need your help!"

The station got so quiet you could here a pin drop. "Someone's been kidnapped?" the police officer asked. "Where? How long ago? Do you know where she was taken?"

Prosper said, "She was taken two blocks from St. Mark's Square about fifteen minutes ago. She was taken to her father's house. Please! You have to help her! Her name is Mia Rosalia. Her dad took her. Please help us!"

"Mia . . . Is that Dominic's daughter? The one that was kidnapped by that masked midget?" the police officer asked.

"She ran away with him, she wasn't kidnapped, and is he _not_ a midget. Now, her father is going to _kill her_. Hurry up and help us!" Mosca yelled.

"Alright," the police officer said, nodding his head. "Everyone! We have a kidnapping! All units to the home of Signore Rosalia ASAP!"

Meanwhile, Scipio was racing across Venice. He had never run faster before in his life. He was running on adrenalin and adrenalin only. Scipio knew that Mia was in big trouble. Her father was huge, mean, and drunk. He would beat Mia to death without even knowing he was doing it. The thought made Scipio run faster. If Mia died he would blame himself. He's Mia's boyfriend. It's his job to make sure that nothing happened to Mia, to protect her. What a good job he'd done at that.

Scipio turned the corner and found Mia's house. The house was dark and silent, but Scipio knew that they were in there. Scipio ran to the door and tried it. It was locked; however with a burst of strength that Scipio didn't even know he had, Scipio kicked down the door.

The house looked like an angry bull stormed through it. Everything was broken. The television had a hole in the screen, the couch cushions were tossed everywhere, the counter doors were ripped off the hinges. Scipio wasn't there to comment on the housekeeping, though; he had to find Mia.

Scipio opened one door, which turned out to be a bathroom. He opened another that happened to be a closet. The third door, however, contained pink walls, a pink comforter which was messed up, several stuffed animals that were thrown about, dried blood on the carpet, and a crumpled mass on the ground.

Mia.

"Mia!" Scipio yelled, running towards her. She wasn't moving. Her face was bruised and bloodied, and the bruising crawled down her neck. Scipio didn't know if he should touch her, if that would just mess Mia up even more. "Mia," he said. "Mia! Mia wake up. Please, Mia wake up!"

Mia groaned softly. "Shut up you idiot."

Scipio sighed with relief. He had never felt happier before in his life. "Mia you're alive. Thank God. Thank God, thank God, thank God!"

"It's sweet you were nervous," Mia said, "but seriously, shut up. I have no idea where my dad went, and he might be around here somewhere." Mia licked her lip and tasted blood. "Damn him. He busted my lip."

"You're lip isn't the only thing he's busted," Scipio said, helping Mia get up.

"Thanks," Mia said crossly. "Ah!" she said, doubling over in pain.

"What is it?" Scipio asked. "Are you okay?"

Mia shook her head. "I think he broke one or, multiple, ribs."

"It's okay Mia," Scipio told her, trying to calm her down. "I'll get you out of here. The others went to go get help. You'll be okay."

"No she ain't," Mia's father yelled. A kitchen knife gleamed in his hand. "You won't be okay either."

"Dad," Mia said calmly. "You have to calm down. Do you realise what's you're about to do?"

"Yep," he said. "I realise my daughter is a little bitch 'oo left me for some midget. I realise that 'e's da midget. Well midget," Mia's father said, staring at Scipio, "if I can't 'ave 'er, neither can you." With that, Mia's father thrust the knife towards Scipio's chest.

"No!" Mia yelled, pushing Scipio away from the knife. "Ah!" she screamed as the knife pierced through her flesh.


	14. It's Gonna Be Fine

"Mia!" Scipio yelled. Mia's face was pure white. Her breathing was quick and shallow. "Mia are you okay?"

"It's just my hand," Mia said breathlessly. "Just my hand. It's just my hand, just my hand." Mia looked at her left hand. A knife was going straight through her palm. Blood was seeping everywhere. "My hand!" she yelled. "My hand, oh God my hand!"

Mia's frightened behaviour and the sight of the knife through her hand got Scipio angry. Really, really angry. Scipio turned and gave Mia's father a death glare. Scipio had never felt angrier in her entire life. "You bastard," Scipio said. "You bastard! She's your daughter! She's your daughter and you stabbed her! How could you? _How could you?_" Scipio punched Mia's father in the face. Completely surprised by it, Mia's father did not prepare himself for it and was knocked unconscious.

"Scipio," Mia said, her voice just above a whisper. Scipio rushed to her side. Blood covered her hand. Scipio went to take it out. "Don't," Mia whispered. "It's blocking the blood flow."

Scipio wiped blood from her face. "Alright I won't. Just know I'm here. I'm right here."

"I'm not going to die," Mia told him.

Scipio smiled. "I know that," he said.

"I mean, it's not like he got me in the neck, or the heart, or the gut, right? It's just my hand," she babbled.

"Yep," Scipio gently told her. "Whatever you say."

Mia hit him. She was weak, though, so it didn't really hurt. "I said I'm not dying, so don't treat me like a baby."

Scipio couldn't help but keep on smiling. "You are a _very _violent person."

Mia smiled at him. "Better. I just wanted to tell you, Scipio, I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you too Mia," Scipio said. He leaned into kiss her, but a storm of police officers burst into the room.

"Freeze!" an officer yelled, pointing his gun at Scipio.

Mia shook her head. "Get that gun away from my boyfriend and get me to a God damn hospital."

The police officer looked at her confusedly. Scipio assumed the officer agreed with Mia, because he lowered his gun and told a fellow police officer, "Get her to a hospital. Be careful with her." A few officers put Mia on a stretcher and carried her out of the room. The officer then looked at Scipio. "Who are you, exactly?"

"I'm Scipio Massimo, Mia's boyfriend," Scipio told him.

"And where's her kidnapper?" Scipio pointed at the spot where Mia's father was still unconscious. "How did that happen?" the officer asked.

"I hit him and he went down," Scipio said bluntly.

The officer nodded his confusion showing. "Okay, just, don't go anywhere, kid. We still have a few more questions to ask you and your friends."

As if on cue, Prosper, Hornet, Bo, Riccio, and Mosca ran into the room. "Scip!" Bo cried, jumping onto Scipio's lap. "Scip, is Mia okay? Is she hurt? We saw her get carried out on a stretcher and she might be dead! Is she okay Scip?"

Scipio nodded his head. "She's gonna be fine Bo. She's gonna be fine."


	15. Leaving

One week.

That's how long Scipio and the gang had to answer questions for the police.

That's how long before Scipio and the gang could see Mia again.

When they saw Mia she was a mess. Her left hand was wrapped in a gigantic gauze and she had an IV drip attached to her right arm. Her waste was bandaged as well ("Seven ribs," Mia said. "My bastard father broke seven of my ribs,"). He face, though healing, was still heavily bruised, and she had stitches in three or four places on her face. That wasn't what upset Mia the most, though.

"I can't play guitar anymore," Mia told the group when they walked into the hospital room.

"What?" Hornet asked, surprised.

"The knife messed up my hand," Mia said. "I won't be able to work it right now, not well enough to play guitar. Not even with physical therapy."

"So what's going to happen to you?" Prosper asked. "Are you going to an orphanage?"

Mia became suddenly sombre. "I'm leaving."

Scipio looked up, shocked. "What?"

A tear rolled down Mia's cheek. "They're sending me to live with my uncle in America." Scipio gave her a confused expression. "I didn't even know I had an uncle, so don't you dare give me that look, Scipio."

"So you're leaving. You're going to be gone forever," Scipio said coldly.

Mia shook her head. "No," she said. "No, not forever. I'll be back, I swear I will. Four years, when I'm eighteen. I swear to God I will be back."

Scipio looked like he was on the verge of tears, but he didn't let it show. Like he would ever let it show. He simply held Mia's hand, and looked into her amazing, beautiful green eyes, and whispered, "When is he coming?"

Mia looked at him. "A week."

And everyday that week Scipio visited Mia in her hospital room. They never acted like Mia was leaving. They simply ignored that fact. Instead, they laughed and joked like always.

Mia's uncle arrived, bringing a depression to the Stella. After Mia left, all the members of the Stella gang merely wandered the Stella. No one talked, no one really did anything. They simply just sat and moped.

That is until they heard the secret ring at the door.

"It's Mia!" Bo yelled, jumping into the air. "She's come back!"

"Bo . . ." Prosper said slowly.

"She's back Prop!" Bo yelled. "She ran away from her uncle and she came back to live in the Stella with us!"

"Bo, I don't think . . ." Hornet tried to reason with him, but Bo resisted reason. He threw open the door, expecting Mia to be there, smiling and cursing, just like always. Instead he found a guitar.

"There's a note, Mosca said.

"What's it say?" Riccio asked.

"It's to Bo," Mosca said. "It says, 'Never, ever give up. You have a gift, Boniface. Keep on trying."


	16. Epilogue

_Four years later. . . _

Mia wandered down an alleyway near St. Mark's Square. A million memories filled her find. The day she nearly killed Riccio. The day she got her first kiss. The day her father nearly killed beat her to death. Mia smiled. Not all these memories were happy memories, but these memories are the reason she came back to Venice at all. Well, not the only reason.

Doubt slowly filled Mia's mind. Would Scipio even remember her? She sure as hell hoped so. Mia didn't travel across an ocean to just be forgotten. _I guess it would be difficult to forget me_ Mia thought. _I did nearly get him killed._

Continuing to walk along, Mia decided to walk to the Stella. She could not find it, however. Mia walked around the area where the Stella was located, but she only found a supermarket where the Stella should be.

Mia sighed in frustration. Was that month in her fourteen-year-old life just some illusion that her mind made up? Did she really never kiss Scipio, teach Bo guitar, or threaten Riccio's life? Suddenly, Mia's sixth sense kicked in. Ever since Riccio pick-pocketed her, she's trained herself to be overly aware of surroundings, primarily her pockets. That is when Mia got a peculiar feeling in the pit of her stomach, Mia grabbed at the hand that was reaching towards her pocket. Pain shot up in her left hand. "Ow." she said, switching the grip on the mystery wrist from her left hand to her right. "Got my left hand stabbed when I was fourteen," she told the owner of the wrist. "It hasn't been the same since."

"It happened to a friend of mine," the voice said. "Same age too."

"Well that's odd. I wonder if we're talking about-" Mia turned to face her captive. All she saw was a lot of exploding hair and bad teeth. "Riccio?"

Riccio gave Mia a shocked smile. "Mia!" he exclaimed.

The two of them hugged. "So how have been?" Mia asked. "You got taller."

"Yeah, thank God," Riccio said. "My growth spurt didn't hit until I was fifteen. God, did Mosca make fun of me."

"What happened to the Stella?" Mia asked.

"It got turned into supermarket after we were found living in it," Riccio explained. "Me and Mosca are living in an abandoned warehouse and Bo, Prosper, and Hornet are living with Ida and Victor at their house."

"Oh I see," Mia said with a straight face. "Now who, exactly, are Ida and Victor?"

Riccio laughed. "I've forgotten how much you missed. Come on," he said, "I'll take you back to their house. Bo misses you."

"Wait, Riccio," Mia said. "Where's Scipio? How is he?"

Riccio stared at her for a moment then said, "Come with me to the house. You are going to have to see this for yourself."

"Is he okay? Is he dead?" Mia asked, worriedly.

Riccio laughed. "He's fine. He's just . . . you just have to see it yourself. So, how was America?"

The two of them talked and laughed on their way to the house. It was a nice house, big, like Scipio's. "Wait out here," Riccio said. He opened the door to the house and stuck his head inside. "Guys and Hornet!" he called. "Guess who I made the mistake of trying to pick-pocket?" Then he waved her inside.

Mia stepped into the lavish house and instantly felt as nervous as she did four years ago when she first stepped into the Stella: nervous, alone, with every eye on her. Then a hail storm of people charged at her, giving her hugs and asking her questions all at the same time. "OhmyGod I'm surrounded," Mia said. "I've truly missed you all, but can you take about three or ten steps backwards so I can breathe?"

"I didn't know you were claustrophobic Mia," Riccio said. "Yeah back in America I got stuck in an elevator for a few hours. Pretty scary. I'm scared of knives, too, now, believe it or not."

"Mia!" Mosca exclaimed, patting her on the back. "It's good to see you again. How did the States treat you?"

"Well, the people are just as, if not more loud and obnoxious as I am so you can say they welcomed me with open arms."

Next, Hornet enveloped her in a huge hug. "Mia, how are you?"

"Great," Mia said, grinning broadly. "You?"

"I'm fantastic," Hornet said, returning the smile.

"Good," Mia said, "because do I have the book for you." Mia reached into her inside jacket pocket and took out a book titled, _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_. "You'll love this. It's just like _Lord of the Rings_ expect- no, wait, never mind, its nothing like _Lord of the Rings_ but its still freaking amazing."

"So you," Hornet said, lowering her voice, "you learned how to read, then?"

Mia shook her head. "Oh, no, of course not," Mia said. "I got it on an audio book."

A much older Prosper walked up to her next. "Mia. Long time no see," he said.

"Wow your voice got deep," Mia said. Prosper laughed and held out his fist. "Ah! The old American symbol of friendship. You remember!"

"Of course I remember," Prosper said. "It was so simple; one couldn't help but remember it."

"Where's that brother of yours?" Mia asked. Suddenly, Mia was attacked by a small blonde thing holding a guitar. "Never mind that Prosper. I've found him."

"Mia!" Bo exclaimed. He, like Riccio, had gotten much taller in the last four years, so even though Bo was only ten, he was crushing Mia under his weight. "Mia! How are you? Have you been good? You seem good. How's your hand? Does it still hurt? I hope not, but I can imagine a knife going through your hand is bound to hurt a bit."

"Bo I've, been good, but I'm suffocating a bit," Mia said. "My hand has been good too, but believe it or not, my hand cramps up when I'm not breathing right, so if you could do me a favour and get off?"

Bo got off of Mia but did not calm down. In fact, he seemed to get even more excited. He held up a guitar (Mia noticed that it was the same guitar she gave him four years ago) and said, "Mia, listen to me play. I've gotten really good."

Bo then began to play "Let it Be." _A Beatle's song,_ Mia thought. _I've really influenced this kid. I wonder if he took up cursing._ Bo ended the song beautifully. "That was fantastic Boniface!" Mia exclaimed, messing up Bo's hair, which grew quite a bit. "Neither John, Paul, or George could've played better."

"What about Ringo?" Bo asked.

"Ringo played the drums," Mia answered, giving Bo a small smile.

"So," said a forty-something year old man standing next to a similarly aged blonde woman, "You're the one who taught Bo how to play guitar."

"Um, yes mysterious man I've never met before but I'm assuming to be the man know as Victor," Mia said very fast. "I am the one who taught Bo guitar."

The man laughed. "Yes, I am Victor, and this is my wife, Ida."

Mia smiled and shook their hands. "Pleased to meet you. Riccio has told me about five minute's worth of information about you."

"Has he now?" Ida asked.

"All positive personality points I swear," Mia defended.

"Well, they have told me about four years worth of information about you, and I must say you are truly living up to your reputation," Ida said, smiling.

"You're smiling so I'm assuming I'm living up to a positive reputation, yes?" Mia asked. Ida laughed and nodded her head yes. "Now," Mia continued, "you are all lovely, but there is one person I still kind of have to see again, so if anyone could tell me where he is . . ."

"Are you looking for me?" a deep voice called out from behind a corner.

Mia turned the corner and found Scipio's father in the hallway. But. . . Scipio's father was over forty-years-old when she met him. And this man is in his early twenties. And he draws an eerie resemblance to . . . "Scipio?" Mia asked quietly.

He held out his arms. "Honey, I'm home," Scipio said.

"But . . ." Mia started, confused. "But you look older than me . . . But that makes no sense because you're younger than me; you are a year younger than me, but you look older than me, five years older than me, but you're seventeen, not twenty-thr-" Mia was interrupted by a kiss from Scipio. It was a long kiss, a kiss Scipio has been waiting four years to give.

When they pulled away, Scipio just smiled at Mia. "You talk too much," he said, smiling.

Mia smiled back at him "That's sweet," Mia said, holding his face his her good hand, "but please explain to me why my seventeen-year-old boyfriend looks like he's in his twenties?"

And they did explain to her what happened. Several times, in fact, because Mia kept getting confused. "Okay hold up," Mia said. "So about a month after I left, you were hired to steal a wooden wind from Ida that belonged to a magical carousel that turned to eighty-year-olds eight and you into you twenties? All the while Victor was hired by Prosper and Bo's aunt and uncle to find them and send the two of them back to him?"

Scipio nodded his head. "Basically, yes."

"Well," Mia said, "that was one hell of a year for you Scipio. First you nearly get killed by my father, next you become a twenty-year-old, what, detective's assistant?"

Scipio nodded his head. "Yeah that's my 'official title,' I guess."

"Well I sure as hell missed a lot," Mia said.

"Yeah you did," Prosper said.

"Now what are you going to do Mia?" Bo asked. "Are you staying?"

"Of course I'm staying," Mia said. "My fiancé has a steady job here. It wouldn't be fair for me to make him move to the States."

"Fiancé?" Scipio asked, smiling. "Don't I have a say in this?"

"You lost your say when you made yourself the legal age to be married," Mia said.

Scipio merely laughed and kissed Mia, making her the happiest girl in the world.

_*I just want to thank all the fans of this FanFic for their lovely reviews. Seriously, you guys are the only reason why I finished this fic. In fact, this is the first story I've ever finished, and I couldn't have done it without your support! Thanks guys!* _


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